Panel likely to empower standing committees in Punjab Assembly

To give recommendations after reviewing rules of other assemblies

LAHORE:

Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has announced the constitution of a panel to prepare recommendations for improving the powers and functioning of the standing committees of the House.

The speaker said the committee would review the rules of procedure of the standing committees of all provincial assemblies of the country.

The committee will prepare recommendations to make the standing committees of the Punjab Assembly more viable, functional and empowered, he said.

The matter came under discussion when PML-N’s lawmaker Malik Ahmed Khan raised objection over non-functional standing committees.

On a point of order, MPA Malik said the elections of chairpersons of some committees had been held but no meeting had been called and the lawmakers were losing interest in them. He requested the House to make the committees functional and empowered.

The speaker said to Law Minister Raja Basharat that the matter was very important and required to be resolved at the earliest. He said empowerment of the standing committees would attract the lawmakers to their proceedings.

Basharat assured the speaker that the government would play its democratic role in this regard.

The proceedings started after a delay of about an hour and a half.

During the question hour, Parliamentary Secretary Malik Taimoor Masood answered lawmakers’ queries related to the Housing, Urban Development and Public Health Engineering Department.

Over a question asked by the PML-N’s Arshad Malik, Speaker Elahi came down hard on the party’s previous government. He said PML-N leaders preferred taking pictures in rainwater rather than focusing on improving the flawed sewerage system. Things could be rectified with sincere efforts but it was not the priority of the PML-N leadership, the speaker remarked.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 16^th, 2020.